Adventures with Col. Morgan

City help on grant moves forward CRHDC housing project

Nonprofit to build 50-unit development for ag workers' families

The Fort Morgan City Council on Tuesday night approved a complicated set of agreements and subagreements to move forward a grant for a 50-unit housing development in the city.

The nonprofit Community Resources & Housing Development Corp. plans to build the housing development in Fort Morgan on seven acres near the Morgan County Department of Human Services building and the Fort Morgan Police Department on East Beaver Avenue.

The development's three- and four-bedroom apartments would serve families with at least 65 percent of income coming from an agricultural source.

While CRHDC garnered a federal community development block grant, the money could not be given directly to the nonprofit due to granting rules. Instead, the money had to go to a municipal source, even though the money in the grant ultimately was to be used to pay the municipality for infrastructure related to building the development.

"What this grant does is it provides a funding mechanism for this project to move forward," Fort Morgan City Manager Jeff Wells said. "What's interesting about this grant is it goes through us to CRHDC, back to us. so in essence, it helps them fund their project, and the money ultimately comes to us. Under the granting rules, the money can't go to a nonprofit corporation, it has to go to a municipal entity, so this is how they set up these agreements to make it work."

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Public Works Director/Engineer Brad Curtis said that the money in the grant would cover things like fees for building permits, water and sewer taps, installing transformers and other infrastructure costs for which the city normally charges developers.

Curtis also pointed out that CRHDC would handle the bulk of the paperwork related to the grant and the money that would shift from the city to the nonprofit and then back to the city.

He said that Assistant City Attorney Jason Meyers was making sure that the city's risk was limited under these agreements and subagreements.

The housing project could start taking physical shape as soon as this fall, with the goal being to have the foundation in before winter sets in, according Carly Johansson, CRHDC director of real estate development.

With this grant, the nonprofit is that much closer to getting the building permits that would advance that plan.

The nonprofit purchased the land for the project, and the Fort Morgan City Council annexed it into the city in 2013. The city then bought a piece of that property not needed by CRHDC, as per a previous multi-party agreement, which also includes building out Linda Street between Railroad and Beaver avenues.

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